Andrew wanted to give those fans that were not in attendance an idea of what transpired at the Meet & Greet between Ben and NFL-UK fans last evening at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London:

Tuesday evening in London, England there was a unique event put on by the NFL to promote the International Series football games that will be played during the regular season at Wembley Stadium.

Twenty six English football fans were invited to attend a meet and greet session with Ben Roethlisberger. The audience wasn’t entirely made up of Steelers fans, but as will happen in September when the Steelers play the Vikings, Steeler Nation UK were out in force.

Via the Steeler Nation UK Facebook group, many fans were encouraged to enter their names with NFL UK to ensure Ben was greeted by a friendly audience. Steeler Nation met up in Henrys Bar, Piccadilly, which will be the meeting place for Steeler fans from around the world in September the evening before the Minnesota game.

The proud sight of Steeler fans, dressed in their Ben shirts with their Terrible Towels walking the streets of London to the Grosvenor House Hotel would have a sight for English sore eyes. With a few fans of other NFL teams in the room, twenty UK Steeler fans made their entrance and overwhelmed the event with a sea of black and gold.

Ben appeared and was introduced to the fans by Neil Reynolds, Sky TV presenter. To begin the session, Neil showed a clip of Ben avoiding tackles against a Dallas defense and asked if there was any logic in what Ben was doing as he ran around the field trying to find an open receiver. Ben retorted that the first thing he intended was to try and not get hit!

Saying he recalled the play, Ben continued to explain what happened against “the perfect defense” shown in the clip eventually making a completion to the ever reliable Heath Miller.

Neil suggested the improvising shown in the clip was playground football and Ben agreed, commenting that he grew up playing football in the backyard and playing in the schoolyard, "My competitiveness doesn’t allow me to just give up on a play. I can’t do it. As coaches know, we live by the sword, we die by the sword."

Ben moved on with his talk by expressing the feelings of coming to London to play football and how excited he was to tell his teammates that, "we’re going there because we have fans there. It makes me happy, it’ll make the guys happy and I have always said the Steeler fans are the best fans in sports. We’re playing for the fans and that’s what’s exciting. It’s not just about making money for the NFL, it’s about playing for the fans."

Looking at one of the Terrible Towels the fans were holding, Neil suggested that he shouldn’t touch it as he wasn’t a Steeler fan. Ben laughed and commented, “You can touch it. But don’t disrespect it. Don’t step on it. Just don’t do anything bad with it.”

During the question and answer session with the audience, Ben responded to questions that included his golf enthusiasm, his memories of the first game as a Steeler, the return of Heath Miller and the changing personnel, his favourite and the worst place to play (Baltimore).

Ben then moved to a flip chart to draw Xs and Os for a couple of plays that could happen on the field. Ben first joked that he would draw the whole playbook, before suggesting Pictionary. Addressing the enthralled fans, Ben drew a base play describing each move and option.

He also explained that NFL playbooks change every week and players have four or five days to learn the new plays, the terminology and what everyone is doing. Acknowledging that there could be 210 plays in a game plan, for each game, Ben confirmed he would talk to offensive co-ordinator Todd Haley every Friday and if he didn’t like a play he can ask the coach to take it out.

When the Steeler Nation UK flag was unravelled, Ben was very enthused and keen to have his photo taken with it and the fans.

The session ended with Ben having his photo taken individually with each fan.

*Thank you Andrew!

July 2, 2013 - Big Ben in London1266 viewsBen puts on a little game planning seminar.

Photo: Andrew Duncan

July 2, 2013 - Big Ben in London909 viewsFans asked questions of Ben during the Meet & Greet which was held at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane.